France, the land of 246 types of cheese… and thirteen million wandering travelers. Thirteen million are the pieces of luggage that were forgotten in French stations and trains last year. In the past, the phenomenon went almost unnoticed except by poor devils bereft of their valuables, the luckiest of whom found them in the lost and found. But today, the management of “left luggage” has become a completely different problem. Reason ? The danger of attack.
The Vigipirate plan now requires carriers to be more vigilant, but also to limit the area where luggage is left behind. So many precautions very expensive for SNCF. Over the course of a year, handling forgotten suitcases caused more delays than the major crash we experienced at Montparnasse. A total of 620,000 minutes were lost in 2021, making it the main cause of delays for TGVs and Intercités. Plague!
Every second passenger does not want to put a tag on their luggage, as much out of carelessness as to preserve their anonymity.
Alain Krakowic, Director of Voyages SNCF
Mandatory luggage tagging, although it may seem unnecessary to some travelers, has the merit of giving a warning to someone who has forgotten their luggage. And therefore avoid demining services. alas “One of the two passengers does not want to put a tag on his luggage, as much out of negligence as to preserve anonymity.”explains Voyages SNCF director Alain Krakowic.
In an attempt to convince this recalcitrant half, the national company has just launched its latest innovation: stickers with QR codes, which it hopes will convince travelers who want to remain inconspicuous. The principle is very simple: a plastic tag with a QR code is distributed at the station. Once scanned on your smartphone, it will automatically direct you to a special website where you enter your name, address and phone number.
So if you forget your suitcase, only SNCF agents will be able to access your personal information. Passengers will obviously always have a choice between a traditional tag or a QR code tag. Gadget or really useful? Atlantic and South East passengers will need to ask for TGV hubs on which the device is installed from Saturday 2 July.
Source: Le Figaro
